Dawnie Lu's Guinea Pig Rescue

Hi, my name is Dawn. I run a rescue and Facebook group called Dawnie Lu's Guinea Pig Rescue out of Carbondale Illinois. I have been rescuing guinea pigs for 5 years now and have rescued/rehomed just over 1200 guinea pigs that I physically and financially take care of on my own, with some help with donations from my wonderful guinea pig family. The rescue's only fee is unconditional love and I am glad to help new adopters with supplies and or a cage when there are extras to spare. I currently have 57 guinea pigs which is a breeze compared to a few months ago when I had the highest ever at 108. I receive an average of calls and messages equally around 30 guinea pigs needing help every weekend, another 25 to 30 during the week and if I was to reach out to ads and posts that I see I could easily take in hundreds and hundreds every single week. With funds being tight lately I have been having to turn many down unfortunately. But I still average around 5 to 10 guinea pigs coming in and leaving each week. Majority of the guinea pigs are up for adoption but there are a few that will be staying with me permanently as they are either sick or have issues to which I feel I am the best person that could take care of them. Of course that is on top of my own 13 guinea pigs, three dogs and four cats. I work as much as I can around adoptions and rescues and stay awake three to four nights a week as I clean cages and wash bedding every other night. I think for those who have known me for a while and or have been to my home, I believe they would agree that I do try my hardest at keeping everyone happy and safe until they find their furever home. But for a few years now I have had this black cloud following me everywhere and this Easter was no different. I have a back room in my home that I have to close off in the winter as I do not currently have a furnace in my home and have to heat it with portable electrical heaters. So on Easter it was 82° and I thought it would be a good time to open it up and air it out. But when I unsealed the door and opened it up, the winter has caved in that part of the roof (last Christmas the front part of my home caved in and had to be fixed and replaced inside and out) and destroyed my backroom. Although it looks horrible I am more worried at this point about the black mold that is growing all around in there as I know it will quickly spread into the rest of the home where myself and guinea pigs are. And if that was not bad enough, the van I use for work and for close rescues is on its last leg. I have been patching it for a few years but the rescue and myself definitely need to find a new vehicle before it is too late and it breaks for good leaving me with no vehicle and no job. It hasn't had reverse the whole time I've owned it, which is 3 years, and I am getting older and am having a harder time pushing it out of places when I have to park it in a parking spot or somewhere most people would reverse out of. I'm actually quite sure I look quite ridiculous doing it LOL. But you do what you got to do sometimes. So I am fundraising today to try to help with the repairs of that part of my roof, the repairs to redo the back room, for possibly finding a new cheaper car in better shape and first and foremost for the daily needs of each and every guinea pig hanging at the rescue for the time being. Overwhelmed is an understatement at this point and the guinea pigs and I can sure use your help. I absolutely adore the guinea pigs and want to continue helping as many as I can. But without your help I don't see how I could continue going. Anything you can donate to help us would be much appreciated. And as the years go on I promise to continue to pay it forward when I can. From myself and the guinea pigs we send hugs and much love ❤️. Thank you